We're Off To...Austria, Anguilla, and Santa Fe

Our top picks for the biggest-value buzz-worthy destinations worldwide. Get 'em while they're hot

AUSTRIA30% off packages since 2009

WHY NOW Thanks to spectacularly steep prices (and, er, slopes), the Eastern Alps remain a pipe dream destination for most American ski bums: They'd die to schuss those powdery peaks but wouldn't dream of dropping five figures on a ski week. This season, such sums are a mere memory thanks to hotel deals and discount ski passes on offer throughout Austria, especially in Tyrolean Innsbruck, with 310 miles of trails. "It's extremely rare to see Austrian ski lodges on sale, and we never pre-sell lift tickets," says Dan Sherman, director of marketing communications for the travel-booking Web site ski.com. "But Innsbruck has extended low-season rates, with hotels including ski passes and offering unheard-of discounts on rooms." And Innsbruck receives an average of 321 inches of snow per year, a little more than the annual average in Aspen and St. Moritz (300 inches). Salzburg hotels are also on sale and less than an hour from 40 ski resortsplaygrounds of half-pipes, jumps, and pistes that even Olympians would kill to carve.

HOW TO GO Ski six days and sleep seven nights at Innsbruck's stately Grand Hotel Europa for $958 per person when booked through ski.comthat's $150 in savings (800-525-2052, ext. 3279; dan@ski.com). Or hit the fourteenth-century Goldener Adler, which has hosted both Mozart and John Glenn (how many hotels can say that?) and this month vies for pow hounds to fill its 35 chalet-style rooms. If you book through skihotels-innsbruck.at, $700 buys four nights there and three days of access to nine ski resorts. In Salzburg, Poe Travel's package includes six nights in the downtown NH Salzburg, a five-day ski pass, and shuttle service for just $300 per persontotal!based on double occupancy (501-376-4171; epoe@poetravel.com). And although flights to Innsbruck cost about the same as they did last year, fares to Munich from New York and Los Angeles are down 20 percent since January 2009, according to Giorgos Zacharia, who builds algorithms for kayak.com. Both Innsbruck and Salzburg can be reached from Munich in under two hours for about $45 (for train times and details, go to bahn.de).

THE 411 Another reason to go now? Teens take Innsbruck in 2012, when the slopes will host 14- to 18-year-old ¨ber-athletes competing in sports from bobsledding to biathlons during the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games.

ANGUILLA30% off airfares since Jan. 2009

WHY NOW There are always reasons to visit Anguilla's chichi 40 square milesBritish gentility, flawless beaches, serene sailing tripsand now there are a few more: Flights from U.S. hubs are 30 percent lower this month than the same time last year, and The Viceroy, a pretty beechwood-hued resort on 35 bayside acres, popped up in November. Its 166 Kelly Wearstler-­designed rooms and villas come with a third night free through January 31 (866-270-7798; doubles, $695). At the Condé Nast Traveler Gold List-rankedCap Juluca, even basic rooms evoke Moorish aristocracy with a domed beachfront terrace, marble shower, and Persian rugs throughout the 700 square feet. Book three nights through April 4 and get the fourth free, or stay seven nights for the price of five (888-858-5822; doubles, $995-1,095).

SANTA FE30% off hotels since Jan. 2009

WHY NOW Santa Fe may have been around for 400 years, but now is the best time to see the city's cozy-cool sightsadobe digs, New Age spas, and indigenous and ultramod artwhile saving about 30 percent on hotels. The newly overhauled Hotel St. Francis celebrates its reopening with a $159-a-night special, including breakfast and evening drinks (800-529-5700). The third night is free at the historic La Fonda (800-523-5002; doubles, $229–$319) and Hotel Santa Fe (800-825-9876; doubles, $209); the latter's package comes with breakfast, a dinner for two, and two spa treatments (use the code WSPA). In November, American Airlines launched a direct flight from L.A. that is likely to lower fares into nearby Albuquerque, and though January's not warm, it's certainly sunny, with an average high of 44 and the occasional sprinkling of bright snow.

Also on Our Radar Since January 2009, flights to Riga,
Latvia, are down 30 percent and the Latvian lats has devalued 10 percent. At the Baltic city's stand-alone ESPA, menu offerings cost about half what they would in the States: The sublime three-hour "De-stress Retreat" is $585 in New York Cityand $327 in Latvia (371-6771-5222).